Trunk or Treat

While Doug was returning from a work trip to Seattle, Sara took the gang to Trunk or Treat at St. Agnes.

Julia and Nora D. prepare costumes for trunk or treat

Boys prepare to give out some potatoes

Several 8th graders attended (several got volunteer credits for cleaning up)

Julia and gang man their trunk (and eat some candy)

17th Anniversary

We celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary in Rochester, NY at a 13 year-old hockey game. For dinner we treated ourselves to the most expensive dinner we have ever eaten ... at Olive Garden ... and Julia didn't eat anything. Yes, it was a group dinner with a shared bill.

Back in McLean ... 

Julia was excited to be the photographer

RJ was still wearing his suit from church

Cross Country warm up meet

Both kids ran in a cross country developmental meet. 

• RJ twisted his ankle, but finished the race in 17:51 (4km)
• Julia ran hard and tried not to talk to Nora D. She finished in 15:05 (3km). A big improvement over 18:18 in her first race.

Sara has been helping with team organization (so she can wear her 'St. Agnes Coach' shirt

Girls hanging out after the race

Rochester weekend

Julia was excited about her 'vacation' to Rochester, NY. Oh ... and RJ had a hockey tourney there as well.

After a 6-hour drive and short nap, RJ as ready to play some hockey.

RJ had a good game on Friday night and got the 'hat' award

RJ was stellar in game 1. Tired muscles caught up with him by game 3 of 5.

Julia and Sara spent the entire day on Saturday at the The Strong National Museum of Play. As a result they missed a couple of hockey games but had loads of fun on Julia's vacation.

Julia and Sara in front of the Sesame Street house

Julia's first public piano concert

The ropes course was supposed to last 20-30 minutes. Julia spent about two hours on it.

Life size Simon would have been easier with more than one person

Julia scales wall (you were supposed to stand on the floor and look like you were flying over the city)

A short soccer game as a warm up to the final game

RJ and team at Olive Garden on Saturday night

After a frustrating final game (3-0 loss) we headed home. By the time we were 1 hour out of town, RJ was back to his old self.

On the way home we drove right past the Little League World Series venue in Williamsport

After dinner at Jersey Mike's Subs and a couple hours of rain, we pulled back into our driveway at 10:40pm. Whew. 

Mustang ABS Repair

When we obtained the Mustang, the ABS light was on. We needed to fix it to pass inspection. 

An auto shop pulled the codes and surprisingly it was the ABS Control module and not the wheel speed sensors. We decided to try to fix it ourselves.

Sara ordered a replacement part, Doug borrowed a jack and stands from Johns S. and the fun began ... 

Step 1: remove old ABS control module

Steps 2 & 3: uninstall the 'new' faulty control module and swap parts to make one working unit

Steps 4 & 5: reinstall rebuilt ABS module, fill brake fluid, bleed brakes

As with any project the predicted time was doubled and maybe tripled. The drama:

• Day 1 (hour 1): uninstall the broken control unit. Build DIY plugs to prevent brake fluid from leaking all over the place.
• Day 1 (hours 2-3): struggle to seat the brake line fitting. Connection didn't seem great. Turn on car, ABS light was no longer on, but brakes were out due to no brake fluid.
• Day 2 (11:00am): poured break fluid into reservoir, lifted back of car to bleed brakes. Nothing came out ... because all brake fluid leaked out of faulty connection.
• Day 2 (12:00pm): went to Advance Auto Parts to purchase brake line to test whether the brake line or the housing was to blame.
• Day 2 (1:00pm): uninstall 'new' ABS control unit
• Day 2 (2:00pm): remove electronics from new ABS unit and install in old unit
• Day 2 (3:00pm): reinstall old ABS control unit with new electronics, bleed rear breaks (RJ pushed the brake pedal while I controlled the bleeder valve), run out of brake fluid
• Day 2 (4:00pm): return to Advance Auto - return brake lines, purchase additional brake fluid, bleed front brakes.
• Day 2 (5:00pm): say a prayer ... turn the key ... no ABS light! No brake light! Whew!

Initial time estimate: 4 hours

Actual time: 9 hours (3 trips to Advance Auto Parts)

Whitetail gets new carpet

The first floor carpet at Whitetail was looking a little worn. We replaced solid tan with something a bit speckled and darker to hide rental trash.

Planning phase

Installation in progress

Job complete - it looks a lot better - picture doesn't really do it justice

Doug removed the AC window unit ... this sleeping bat was NOT HAPPY when I woke him and pushed him off the ledge

This annoying varmint was licking the cement between the bricks 

Room without furniture